An EasyJet plane came within mere feet of a horror crash with another airliner as it prepared to jet off from southern France.
Passengers in the airbus were peering out the windows as it sat on the runway when they heard a huge roar.
The noise came from the incoming Tunisian Nouvelair jet – which was forced to apply full power to avoid colliding with the aircraft.
It is thought to be one of the closest near misses between two passenger jets, with the EasyJet pilot telling passengers the planes were just three metres – or 10ft – apart.
The pilots of the Tunisian airbus mistakenly tried to land at the wrong runway at Nice Cote d’Azur Airport, which has two parallel runways situated close together, The Times reported.
Heavy rain was falling when the two nearly collided at around 11.30pm on Sunday.
Each airline was carrying around 150 passengers each at the time.
French transport minister Philippe Tabarot confirmed a potentially catastrophic collision between the two airlines was ‘narrowly avoided’.
He ordered an immediate investigation by the air accident investigation branch.
The pilots of the Tunisian Nouvelair jet came under fire by airport management – who blamed them for the near miss.
They said: ‘It seems that the Nouvelair pilot made an error.’
Pilots of the EasyJet flight 4706 to Nantes were so shaken by the incident that they chose not to continue the flight, leaving passengers stranded.
Érard, 29, a passenger on the EasyJet flight, told local newspaper Le Figaro that the captain was in a ‘visible state of shock’ when he left the flight deck.
He said the captain had informed passengers that a crash had been avoided by three metres and that it was the fault of the other airliner.
He added: ‘The plane was about to take off when we heard an enormous noise of engines right alongside.’
Both planes were grounded as investigators took flight recordings. The BEA declared it a ‘serious incident’
It confirmed the near miss is one of the closest reported between passenger jets in Europe for many years.
The agency warned against any premature conclusions however, an official confirmed to French media that the aircraft had approached the wrong runway, as previously speculated.
EasyJet and Nouvelair have been contacted for comment.
